“The one thing the president really needs to do now is to begin the process of shutting down the conventional coal plants. Politically, the White House is hesitant to say they’re having a war on coal. On the other hand, a war on coal is exactly what’s needed,” Schrag told the Times, more specifically.

Some might recall Obama saying during his 2008 presidential campaign that his administration would institute a cap and trade system where “every unit of pollution would be charged to the polluter.” The now president said this would create a market that would require new plants to meet the “rigors of that market,” essentially favoring energy producers with less pollution.

“So if somebody wants to build a coal power plant they can, it’s just that it will bankrupt them because they are going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted,” Obama said during the interview with the San Francisco Chronicle.